I'm convinced ICOs will be regulated everywhere very soon, the same way IPOs are. It's only logic since both offerings pursue the same goal (raise capital for a new business), from the same kind of investors (you and me).

The Vinklevoss brothers are doing something like that. Coinbase and a few others others could probably do something similar. I guess it could be useful to convince some new people to invest in BTC. Of course, it would not be an official representation of BTC, but it would look like one to many people, and that would be enough.

What are you looking for?

Do you expect to see plenty of shops and restaurants which accept BTC?
Do you plan to start some BTC business and you don't want to be taxed?
Do you want to buy drugs and sex with BTC?

Each problem has its own solution.

There were also many Americans with a Swiss or Singaporean bank account who weren't cheating on their taxes. But nowadays, it's next to impossible to open a bank account in those countries if you're holding an American passport. Well, unless you have an introducer, and some very legit fully explainable import-export business. Bitfinex is only a small new element. Other exchanges, QuadrigaCX or Gatecoin also, block American users. I'm sorry if you're American, but most banks and exchanges just want to avoid trouble.

Good. I'm very happy with this decision. They're going the same way as Swiss banks. US customers bring too many problems. Most banks in most countries, and most financial institutions everywhere in the world, are just telling Americans to stay at home.
Sorry sir, we don't want to do business with you.
That's what you hear when you're an American abroad nowadays. If Trump would kill FATCA and the International taxation of US citizens instead of wrecking the deal with Iran, it could change.

I understand them so well! It's hard to make money from publishing on the web, so most editors accept anything. It's also possible they're not aware of that advertiser. I don't blame them.

That already exists. A will is most often in a sealed envelope, and you just need to add to it the keys to your wallet. Lawyers have been handling those kinds of things for decades.

I'm part of the <1%! First time I'm hearing someone telling me this. Quite true, though. I miss the early, libertarian days when there were posts about how BTC would change the world and destroy governments. What we're having now is more of the same, with BTC attracting greedy speculators, without any wish to change anything. Some cards have been shuffled, as some libertarians early believers now find themselves rich, but that's it.

I just wonder how the new investors will react when the mempool is clogged again, making them unable to do transactions.

Do you still believe in SegWit? August 1st was 73 days ago. Those who wanted to activate it had plenty of time to do so.

Governments can tax exchanges and they can say what is legal tender and what is not. Suppose a government dictates that you cannot pay with BTC? You would still be able to buy some old furniture from a neighbor with BTC, but you couldn't pay a flight ticket, or at a restaurant with BTC. Any government can do it. I don't think they're much afraid...

Photoshop?

Who do you think has paid for this banner? Bitcoin Core developers?

We've been living for more than 2 years with the scalability issue, and there's real drama here, because nothing is fixed, mempool is rising again. Blocks are full. I already made a topic about it sometimes last year (or was that the year before? I don't want to check). I thought SegWit would be a nice step solution but it's dead, and the SegWit 2X thing is already dead before launched.

What's next? There are topics about Amazon suddenly accepting BTC, but the people who expect this, haven't understood that Amazon would kill BTC if it accepted it. The network couldn't handle such a huge number of additional transactions.

The worst part is that despite all this, BTC's price keeps on rising. That makes me richer, but sad because the people who invest in BTC today, cannot share the enthusiasm and the ideals which made me invest in it in 2013.

It is now obvious that BTC will never replace credit cards. BTC is slower than Paypal, and sometimes even more expensive. The past 2 years have clearly shown that there won't be a quick fix to BTC's problems. All the early adopters know that. If BTC's price keeps on rising, that is because the newcomers DO NOT care about BTC. They just want to make a quick buck.

Difficult, if a country has a weak economy, there will be little cash around to buy BTC to begin with. You may also consider that a poor country will have poor infrastructures, I mean poor phone networks, and slow Wi-Fi.

It depends if your country of origin accepts dual citizenship, but only a few don't. When you travel, you keep your 2 passports in your pocket, and when entering a new country, you show the passport which grants you entry without a visa. You don't have to reveal that you have another citizenship which would require a visa to get in.

I'm trading everyday on Bitfinex, Kraken and Poloniex, with about 20 orders at all times.
I have 3 good tips to give you.

1/Don't dream.
2/Don't listen to what anyone will tell you.
3/Get lost!

I made mistakes in the beginning, but I've learned a lot by trading for a long time. Do you really think I'm willing to share all my knowledge with a newbie like you? There's no market where everybody is a winner. Experienced traders make money because there are inexperienced traders making wrong bets. Success is never shared. Stocks or cryptos, success is built on other people's failures...

EDIT : sorry if I appear rude, but people know that money doesn't grow on trees, they shall also know that BTC are hard to earn.

Actually, no. Switzerland isn't a BTC country.
To the best of my knowledge, there hasn't been any sign of BTC support at the confederation level. What we've seen so far are many local initiatives. Like in the small city of Chiasso, or in the canton of Zug, near Zurich.

Bitfinex has chosen today that if there's a hard fork, BTC will still be known an traded as BTC, while the Segwit2x fork will be known, and traded, as B2X.

https://www.bitfinex.com/posts/223

Somehow, this is scary. Hard forks should be exceptional. We should not see a hard fork every quarter. This is damaging for BTC.

It depends of the bank, and it depends on the holder.
If you have an account at a private Swiss bank, where they ask for a minimal deposit of $250,000 before considering you as a client, you're safe.
If you have a monthly $50,000 income, you shall not worry much about making large BTC transactions.

If you're a Romanian making $300 a month, suddenly cashing out 10 BTC, that is suspicious.

NO, you can't. kraken does not allow this. You can only withdraw money to your own account (same name), not of a third party.

I doubt it could be possible because of AML and KYC regulations. You cannot make a transfer and a conversion in a single operation. It's possible with different fiat currencies, though.